Brown Bag Series--Don't Forget to Bring Your Lunch!

Every semester, The School of the Arts and Communication hosts various guest speakers through the “Brown Bag Series.” All guest presentations take place in The Mildred and Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall in the Music Building on Fridays from 11:30AM – 12:20PM, a time when students have a break in their schedules for lunch. All lectures and discussions are free and open to the public, and all attendees are encouraged to bring their lunches and relax—the only time food and drinks are allowed in the concert hall! Guest presenters are selected by the Departments of Art and Art History, Communication Studies, Interactive Multimedia, or Music, or The Center for the Arts. This allows for a diverse range of topics to be presented.This past Fall 2012 semester featured a variety of interesting guest presentations and panel discussions. Professor Bruce Rigby, who will retire at the end of this semester after 40 years of teaching at TCNJ, presented on his own personal journey through the arts. Professor Rigby showed and explained a number of his past and present works in conjunction with the opening of his exhibition Bruce Rigby: Recent Works that was featured in The College Art Gallery. Two new Art and Art History faculty, Professors Amze Emmons and Gregory Theilker, also discussed their experiences in their presentation entitled Art in the Real World.In conjunction with the The Arts in Contemporary India Symposium presented by The Center for the Arts, guest performer and top Indian percussionist and tabla player Abhijit Banerjee explored the topic of classical India music. In addition, R. Luke DuBois, a composer, artist, and performer who explores the temporal, verbal, and visual structures of cultural and personal ephemera, presented on his recent projects with interactive multimedia. DuBois presented on his exploration of different aspects related to online dating websites, the effects of accelerating the speed of video and audio recordings, and his presidential campaign project for the 2008 election that featured the verbal highlights of past presidents’ inaugural speeches.The Brown Bag Series is an excellent way for students to discover more information relating to their own personal interests without having to travel off-campus. The range of topics explored through the series is extremely broad and appeals to students of all majors and disciplines. This series allows for professors, alumni, current students, as well as experts outside of the TCNJ community to present on various topics and research. In addition, the projection equipment and other technology available in the Mayo Concert Hall allows for presenters to integrate video clips, PowerPoint presentations, and other digital media into their lectures. Next semester’s Brown Bag presentations include a screening of a student-faculty collaboration video, excerpts of “Don Pasquale” and “Faust” presented by Boheme Opera NJ, and a presentation on music and insects by Professor Rosalind Erwin and Mr. Nathan Erwin, manager of the O. Orkin Insect Zoo and Butterfly Pavilion at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. More information about the dates and guest speakers for upcoming Brown Bag presentations can be found here. Be sure to check out these unique presentations and discussions—and don’t forget to bring your lunch!

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